Silva the Equalizer

Leon headed through the living bush thicket to go to the dojo for the first time in forever it seemed. As he entered he was greeted by both Gwilym and Serena.

"So, what did you want me for today?"

Gwilym was the first to respond to his question. "With the Tournament only being a month away, there's one last bit that you need to learn yet."

Leon crossed his arms with a puzzled look on his face. "What exactly? I've learned my way around a broadsword and I have hand to hand skill to at least hold up. What am I missing?"

Serena chimed in. "You're missing powers. Everyone participating in this Tournament has gifts unlike a normal human being like yourself. Maeva has the power of the forest nymph within her, so she can use and even recreate nature to her beck and call. And from Katrina's research, Oni has the power of fire originating from the mostly lost lineage from the people of the desert, with Ravlynn coming from the mountains having the power of ice at her fingertips. You lack this integral piece as you are now."

Leon's expression was grim after hearing this knowledge, he wondered frantically how he'd be able to catch up at this rate with barely a month and a half remaining. "So….what miracle do we have up our sleeve?"

Gwilym smiled as he opened a wall, well a door disguised as a wall. "In here." He walked in with Serena following, gesturing to Leon to follow.

"Alrighty. A secret door disguised as a wall. Now what surprise do they have in store for me?"

As he passed through the room was much more well preserved than the main building. It was made of some kind of fine wood, despite it being empty and fairly dark. Within it, contained a shrine that had a singular blade mounted on the farthest back wall.

"A sword?" Leon questioned as Gwilym took the blade off the wall very carefully.

"This sword has the name Silva, though it morphs to the user's preference. This is the Guardian's weapon made after the Crimson Knight's failure. It contains great power with the elements of fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, and ice."

"Isn't ice just a different variant of water though?" Leon quickly retorted with a bold but honest question.

"The blade is made up of seperate elemental magic sources. It's essentially a culmination of magic within one weapon. But unlike the Knight's armor, the power is drawn from the user, thus cannot go over the user's limit."

Serena walked to Leon, making him look her eye to eye. "There's one major warning with Silva. Because it pulls from your power, it stresses your body the same way a brutal beatdown would. If you use too much power, you can and will die." Her grim tone made a chill go up his spine.

"O-ok. So I'm limited in how much I can use it. Anything else I need to know?" He said nervously as she patted his shoulder.

"Not at all. Other than that, your own creativity will limit what you can do with this weapon. But, I strongly suggest that you only practice an hour a day, just to get yourself acclimated."

She smiled as she went to Gwilym, taking the blade out of his hands before handing it to Leon.

The moment it touched Leon's hands, the once katana turned into a broadsword.

"That's really interesting. But, how exactly do I use it?"

Gwilym walked past Leon. "Meet me outside the Eastern city limits."

"There's your answer Leon, good luck."

-

About an hour passed, and Leon met with Gwilym on the east side of Zelenia. This was the most barren area, heading towards the deserts where he initially crashed.

"Ah, you got here sooner than I expected. Come, I'll show you how to use Silva in a much less populated location, for safety and secrecy."

Leon nodded heading into the barren, rocky area where he roamed across initially. It was actually closer than he'd thought to civilization, but the storm on that particular day made visibility zero. After about 3,000 yards they ended up near the crash site, which was far enough away to test things out.

Gwilym turned to Leon and spoke. "Pull the blade out, and simply focus your mind on a single element."

"Sounds easy enough." Leon unsheathed the blade, focusing his mind on the easiest element that he knew, water. Growing up in Bellingham Washington, a coastal city, water was always near and dear to him. He thought of the days when he'd go out and overlook the water. As he did this, the blade itself liquified, turning into a water torrent.

"Whoa! Did the blade actually turn into water?!" He exclaimed.

"Yes. The elements you think of will turn the blade into that substance. And in case you're wondering, no it can't be destroyed in any way." Gwilym explained to him. "Now try to release that water in some sort of way. Just imagine it and it'll create itself."

Leon focused once again, as he pointed the blade out in front of him, he thought of a whirlpool. With these thoughts in mind, a whirlpool actually shot out of the blade, destroying a rock that it was aimed at, while also leaving a defined path in the ground leading to it.

"That….was more powerful than I imagined…"

"Serena did say you had a higher magic affinity than me. Your output is going to be a lot more powerful regardless how minimalistic you think."

"That's a bit scary though….right? Won't I overdo it faster?"

"Not at all. A normal output will only be a small amount. The power is strong, but the effects on you will be nonexistent until you push yourself."

"I take it we're going to test my limits today?"

"Exactly!"

"Ok….so..how powerful is really powerful?" Leon asked hesitantly, not knowing what he'll feel like after a major attack.

"Hmmm. It depends on the element. Some are much more limitless than others."

"What about fire then? Fire contains many properties like pure heat. Meaning the power of a sun possibly?"

Leon's thought processes actually made Gwilym a bit nervous.

"Do you think a sun powered attack would be safe?" He asked as he grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"Possibly. Like you said, it can be in a lesser form. So it can pack a lot of power but not be nearly as dangerous for say a planet than an actual sun." Leon theorized like he was a scientist, he actually did research a lot of space processes before heading into an intergalactic traveling craft.

"I suppose. Give it a shot."

Leon thought of a blue flame in his mind before creating a super charged bow and arrow like the constellation of Orion. The blade boasted an azure blue flame as the bow and arrow materialized above him.

"Here goes nothing. ORRRIIIOOON, SUPERNOVAAAAA!" He called out a move name, as the arrow fired off quickly expanding and exploding in a massive explosion.

"Tha-that...wow." Gwilym watched in awe, as the arrow seared a blue streak through the sky before it expanded like a blue giant going supernova, with the ends of the expanding arrow turned orb giving out energy before blowing up in a bright blue glow.

Leon fell to his knees as he caught his breath. That attack took a lot out of him, it might've been too much too soon. As Gwilym looked at Leon, he chuckled a bit. "You definitely overdid it. But wow! That was amazing that you thought of that. The damage wasn't too bad, but in an arena you'll need to weaken it significantly."

"Ahhhhhh! That was one hell of a move!" He let out with excitement and authority.

"Where did you come up with that name anyways?"

"The Orion constellation has a blue giant, soooo...that's kind of it…" He smiled embarrassingly.

"Hmm, I wouldn't suggest you yell it out every time you use it."

"Whaat?! Come on, great moves need that extra oomph! Besides, it's only a bad idea IF they can stop it." Leon got a sudden burst of energy and hopped back to his feet.

"So all I really need to do is mess with this and test elements? If so, in all honesty...this'll be the most fun I've had training."

"You've oversimplified it a little, but yes, essentially this is what you need to do for the next month and a half. Just don't cause too much damage like you just did."

"I can't do much worse than I did fatigue wise and damage wise. So I'm not too worried."

Gwilym sighed. "I suppose you're right. Just don't overdo it. You need to be in clean health by the time the Tournament starts."

"That shouldn't be an issue. One hour a day until I can withstand more."

Leon took the rest of this day off after such a powerful super attack. The following days that came he flexed his mind into coming up with ways to use Silva's powers to their fullest. He pulled from things of nature to even things from games and other sources, creating a personalized arsenal of attacks across the elements.

The wear on his body lessened each day, after a month he could withstand 2 hours a day before he fell to fatigue.

Leon felt ready. For the first time, he really felt confident in himself on the inside, not just for show. He had nerves, but even professional athletes feel nerves before the big championship game or match. Whether it be from anticipation or excitement, nerves mean that a particular event means something to them. This meant something to Leon, to prove himself worthy through not only his own self doubt, but the criticisms of others.